Previously about 3 months ago, I had my front passanger side bushing replaced. Reason being, while driving 80-85mph on the highway, turning the wheel about 10-15 degrees to the LEFT, the front right side of the car would start vibrating violently. The steering wheel would shake violently left and and right, as if the car was driving down a dirt bumpy road at about 40 mph. Took lots of trial and error to find out what was causing the problem. Rims were slightly bent, had those repaired and straightened, thought rods in the tires were broken and causing the wheel to shake at high speeds, thought was the steering rack. Finally, we tried replacing the bushing, which had visual wear on it... Problem was gone. Now, three months later, I am experiencing the same problem again, only its from about 78-89mph or so.I don't know if something is wearing the bushing away or it is something else causing the problem.. Going about 90 to about 110 there is no problems switching lanes or anything. The problem would occur making sudden left lane changes or lane changes while going around a bank on the highway.. Any ideas?

I don't know if this would relate to the problem, but possible.. when the car goes into a slalom the front end will make a 'clunk' noise.. havent figured out what this is either. suspension related?

thanksss

 

What happens when you want to brake at high speeds? Does the car or rather suspension shudder? It could be that your nuts that keep the caliper fixed to your body or wheel is loose, that fixed my problem. On high speeds my car shudder when I braked and when I turned I had this clunk noise, take alook and see what happens. DIY Turn your steering wheel to the right,fully, then take off your wheel,right wheel$. You will see the two nuts that hold the caliper and the wheel strut together, tighten the one above and the other one is just below that one, tighten that one also. Put wheel on again, turn your steering wheel to the other side and do the left wheel. Maby that'll help you..

 

Thanks, I'll try to check that out.

I don't necessarily feel any shudder or vibrations braking at high speeds, even if its harder than normal braking, the car holds steady and feels normal.

As for the clunk it only clunk when you make a hard right and jerk it back left, as if to dodge an animal or something, even at like 20mph.

The bushing, when replaced, did solve the vibration when turning, but i did still hear the clunk. Another time I would hear it is pulling out of my driveway (semi-circle), I would pull left out of the driveway (no stopping, just rolling along at about 10mph) and once i hit the dip where the end of the driveway meets the road (basically the beginning of the incline of the driveway) which is elevated only slightly, i would hear the clunk when the right end would dip a bit.

I've had my mechanic try to find out what he thought was the problem after test driving it, he said he looked all around the front end and wheel well, suspension, etc, and never mentioned anything about the caliper.. I would of assumed this is something he would of looked at, but then again, you never know =p

 

Yes, they do often overlook the smallest thing, even I dbouted that it could be a loose caliper, ans look what I found out. I am almost 100% certain it is the calipers. Try it you could be amazed (I also had all the symptoms you talk about)

 

Alright, I'll get on that, only thing is its hard to work on my car in the parkinglot at school, but I will be home next weekend, so I'll definitely try it then and I'll be able to know if it worked on my way back to school. Thanks a bunch.
Much appreciated.

 

If you've got a bad suspension bushing, it's a good idea to replace them all. It's a time and mileage thing. Plus, in doing just one, you don't absolutely know that you completely cured the problem.

It's like replacing radiator hoses. Replace one leaking one, and you'll soon have other old ones start leaking since they now have to hold back the same pressure that the new one holds (where before, there was less pressure due to the leak).

Think in terms of "systems" on the car. When you work on the suspension "system" you'll have much better results.

The big clunk source in our 95 Avant turned out to be the front sway bar right front corner mount bolts were loose. Not super loose, just loose enough that as the front end got torqued....going in and out of the driveway, starting or stopping at low speeds, etc. The mount bracket would suddenly shift position against the subframe..."CLUNK".... Steer a different direction, or come back into the driveway and it would shift back....."CLUNK"....

I finally found it by putting the front wheels on pieces of nylon mat, so they could rotate left to right easier, and then having my wife turn the wheel lock to lock, engine running, while I held onto every single suspension component to feel where the clunk or pop was coming from. Turned out that moving swaw bar bracket was resonating throughout the whole front suspension. I could actually feel it "pop" up in the tie-rods. But, eventhough I could feel it in a certain location, the noise was somewhere else.

I followed the noise and the "feel" until I saw the swaw bar bracket popping back and forth.

 

hmm, that sounds intresting and quite possible. my initial thought was it was suspension/sway bar related, but never really looked into it myself. kinda relied on the mechanic. I'll definitely look into that this weekend.
How much was the fix/what was the solution?

Thanks

 

Just a few days after buying the car it started having a thud in the floor at our feet right as we'd start to take off slow, and just before coming to a stop, slow.

Recentering the front snubber mount made it better, so I assumed (rightly so) that the engine and trans mounts were bad and soft allowing too much engine movement.

Replacing the engine mounts improved it, so I replaced the trans mounts and it went away. During this time, I even replaced the lower control arms because the bushings looked bad, and the ball joints boots were torn away. I even replaced the front struts, eventhough they'd been done just prior to me driving the car. They had been assembled wrong, but they weren't the cause of the problem. Replaced the rear struts as well, with no improvement of course.

About a month later it was back, but this time, it was time driven and heat sensative. Quiet when we'd first take off, but the longer we were in the car, especially if running errands around town, the worse the thudding and popping/clunking would get. Drove me friggin' nuts.

Actually had my wife drive me around in a parking lot one day with the hood up, me laying on the engine, head down listening for the noise....but it wouldn't do it with me out on the suspension like that.

Came home, did the wheels on nylon mat, turn lock to lock trick and found the sway bar bolts loose on that right front corner.

Hammered 'em down tight with my 1/2" impact gun and it's been quiet ever since.

 

i just brought my car back to the parking lot i park in here at school. im in CT, and the cars cold here sititng outside all day. as i make my way across campus slowly, everytime i hit the brakes when starting to apply it almost shudders as corne was talking about, i dont recall feeling it in the brake pedal, but you could definitely hear it. then letting off the brake, same thing. if i pumped the brakes it would squeak/shudder on and off. same thing when suspension rolled over a bump even at 5mph for a decent sized bump in a dirt parking lot.
I'm not sure if this is because the car is cold(never used to happen though throughout the cold winter). or if its because I had just detailed the car last week, and drove an hour back to school here and left the car without driving it for a week, so maybe rust/corrosion with the water or something since i hadn't driven it for a week? But with this new brake problem I'm feeling like it may actually be the caliper as corne said... possible?